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Impact of Health Information on Health-Related Behavior Change of Patients Living with Chronic Diseases

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This study examined the health information-seeking and use behavior of patients with chronic diseases to support a change in their health behavior. We conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews and recruited fifteen patients with diabetes (ranging from twenty-five to seventy-five years of age). Thematic analysis was conducted using the NVivo software and five themes were identified under medical and lifestyle management context, including topics of health information needs, information sources, health behavior change/non-change, barriers for information seeking, and influencing factors for information use. The results extended Wilson’s Information Behaviour Model Wilson (1999) by addressing the important role of information needs, which serve, as more than a task to achieve, to ferment a context for the consequent information seeking and use. Two-thirds of the interviewees neglect topics such as disease knowledge and risk avoidance due to interviewees’ incomprehensive and misled understanding of the disease. Instructiveness of information is reported by the participants to influence their information use in behavioral changes, regardless of the trustworthiness of the information. Nearly half of the interviewees cannot apply health information to change their behavior due to perceived health conditions, absent family support, insufficient social support, and partially covered social security. This study contributes to health information behavior studies by proposing a theoretical model of change in health behavior supported by information seeking and use in a comprehensive context-sensitive process and offers implications for customized health information services.
Source: Libri
DOI: 10.1515/libri-2024-0162
Institution: Nankai University
Language: English
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412683114
FWCI: 2.544
Cites: 74
Cited by: 2
Related to: 10